We let all of our chickens free range, which has caused some trouble in the garden. We quickly added netting around each raised bed, but it was clear that we needed to fence in the entire garden area. We’ve also had racoons, armadillos and other critters in the garden. It took a while, and I had some much needed help from my dad and brother stretching the fence, but it’s finally done.
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| My dad and brother helping me finish up the hardest part. |
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| We used a hand operated winch to pull a homemade fence puller. We anchored the winch to a fence post that was in concrete or a dummy fence post that was quickly dug and a post was simply wedged into the hole. The fence puller itself is simply two pieces of scrap cedar 2″x 4″ that have 3 carriage bolts drilled through it. The fence is sandwiched between the two 2″ x 4″ boards and bolted together as shown. |
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| I used 3 large pine trees as living fence posts. In order to not injure the trees too much I attached cedar boards to the tree using 4″ deck screws. Then, the twisted wire fencing was stapled to the cedar board only. This should allow the tree to continue to grow without growing into the fence. |
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| I had milled 1″ oak boards earlier in the year. The oaks were cut down to make room for the fence and to allow more light into the garden. I used the oak to build the three gates for the garden. I used Kreg pocket screws and water proof glue when attaching the 1″ x 3″ boards for the door. |
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| There are two people gates and this large gate, which is wide enough to drive a truck or tractor through. It’s built with the same 1″ oak as the smaller gates, but I also used cables with turnbuckles to try and minimize any sagging. We’ll see how it holds up. |